Live Your Dreams Africa 5.0 : A Recap

Hola friends, thank you for dropping by to read yet another recap from the conferences I’ve been attending this month.

The month of May for me has been full of life lessons: from the different conferences I’ve attended to the different decisions I’ve had to make about my life. Truly, adulting is not an easy process; one has to be consciously intentional about the actions you take, decisions you make, and all that.

Back to the main purpose of this post. Two Saturdays ago, I was The Eventistry, Lekki, for the Live Your Dreams Africa Conference hosted by Bankole Williams.

Side note : these conferences have been giving me the opportunity to know Lagos more😊, enter places I might have normally needed to pay for before entering, meet new friends, learn great life lessons, meet friends physically that I only knew virtually before and to top it, they were all FREE (yeah, no kidding).

Live Your Dreams Africa (henceforth referred to as LYDA) is a conference that brings together people from different walks of life and people of different caliber into a hall with the aim of reshaping lives and helping people live their dreams. The conference is held yearly, and this year makes it the 5th year, hence LYDA 5.0

LYDA 5.0 is the first of the LYDA conference I attended and it was mind blowing (you needed to be there to confirm this for yourself). The host himself is an epitome of wisdom, the panelists were down to earth, we laughed, learned, networked and we had a great time. We were given free drinks, two persons went home with brand new Tecno phones (I lie you not), and some other persons gifts too (unfortunately, I did not collect any gift 😑😠).

The ” I shall snap picture even if I did not win a phone” pose

I’ve been thinking of the best way to share lessons from the conference with y’all (cause I wrote and wrote, like seven pages😀). So, I decided I’ll share with you some key points and questions we were asked and then share some of the key images with you.
Questions you should ask yourself:

1. Is your dream so big, that it intimidates you?
2. Are you making things happen, or are you watching people make things happen?
3. Do you know your unique selling point?
4. What is that one thing you can do without being paid and yet enjoy it?
5. In your circle of influence, are you indispensable?

Key Points and Life Lessons to Learn

There are many things I’ll like to write here, I’ll try to see how to compress my notes here.

Lessons from Bankole Williams:

– Regardless of the times, you have what it takes to make and fulfill your desires
– You do not give up on your dreams, however, you can change your plans or methodology.
– Be INTENTIONAL with what you do
– Life will always present you with opportunities, realizing the opportunities and making the best use of them is what is important.
– Goodwill is the willingness of people to do good to you. It comes because you have served, and served your gift to many people.

– Everyone should be conscious of building goodwill; for a good name is better than riches.
– Use your gift to serve your world.
– Serve your gift to your greatest audience.
– When you have vision, you attract support.

Lessons from Debola Williams:

– There is redemption at every point of your life.
– When life happens to you; it is what you do that matters, not what happened to you.
– In life, be curious, ask questions.
– It is important to make friends with people that are older than you or people that are where you aim to be.
– Your true wealth is in your network
– Serve, add value. You cannot receive if you do not give

– Secure your space. You want to be so good at your job that you are indispensable. That is how you build a brand for yourself that is viable and can be monetized.
– Your brand value and your brand perception must meet
– Ease and alternatives are the enemies of greatness.
– You need to be desperate enough. You need persistence, resilience, and tenacity.
– Turn your fear into fire. Channel your fear onto energy for something productive.
– Think carefully about your “people bank”.
– It is one thing to have friends, but it is important to let your friends know what you are capable of.
– On impact making: instead of telling people how to live their lives, why not glorify the kind of life you want to multiply. (that’s the secret behind The Future Awards)
– See a problem /cultural tension, then look for ways to solve it.
– Do not let the few of starting cripple you from starting.
– You belong where you believe. Know your vision.

A summary from other panelists:

– Consistency is key in whatever you do.
– The GodFactor is important. It is God who keeps your ship afloat in the storms of life.
– Be so good at what you do. Be tenacious.
– For every vision you have, there is a market. Find your market and target it.
– When you have a dream, money is just a tool. Think long-term.
– Invest in yourself and the vision God has given you.
– The way to conquer stage fright is to convert it to positive energy. Take deep breaths thrice before going on stage.
– The biggest resistance you far is YOU.
– Stay true to yourself, and keep learning.

– To be famous, you have to build yourself.
– Underneath your passion is business. Know the business of your passion.
– You learn from everything you’ve been through in life, and from the experiences of those around you.
– Be fearless.
– When you have a mentor: be humble, passionate, patient and willing to learn.

To say the program was loaded is, to say the least. I really had a great time, and my friend that came with me also affirmed that. I’m sure you are also glad you went through this post.

With my friends

Like I’ve said in most of my posts, there are some eventually that you really need to attend. Not every time sit down at home, attend weddings or just go to work; sometime, go for conferences, inaugural lectures or seminars that will add value to your life.

Did you attend LYDA 5.0? How was it? What conferences are you planning to attend soon?

Some conferences coming up include:Techpoint Inspired: This one is for the techies and those that love them and it comes up on the 29th of May 2017.

True Living Conference (Rewrite the FUTURE). This comes up on the 17th of June 2017 at the Muson Centre, Lagos.